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How should Nasa proceed to get the items to which will support the vision?
Nasa's current means to accomplish the SEV though Demonstrators, spiral development and high risk technology is though contracts awards but only though mountains of paper work submissions.
We know that the CEV is another of those items that is to be awarded though what is termed a unmanned demonstrator flyoff in 2008. This is to be only the first step in several so called spirals along the way to following the vision.
Here is just another one of those Demonstrator news articles:
Andrews Space, Inc. Wins $18.7M Contract to Build and Fly Technology Demonstration Spacecraft
Andrews Space, Inc. announced today that it has been awarded the first phase of an $18.7 million contract from NASA's Human & Robotic Technology (H&RT) Program to design, develop, launch, and operate a small spacecraft, called SmallTug, that will demonstrate key technologies and advanced orbital mechanics for application to NASA's human and robotic exploration of the Moon and Mars.
During the first twelve months of the contract, Andrews will design a small spacecraft capable of flying N-body orbital trajectories, which require less fuel than conventional trajectories. The Small Tug will demonstrate electric propulsion systems, stretched-lens solar arrays, and take measurements of the radiation environment between the Earth and the Moon.
Solar electric propulsion is critical to affordable exploration of the Moon and Mars. The Small Tug is a key step in developing larger systems that can move goods and supplies in cislunar space at a fraction of the cost of conventional systems.
Do we really need ion drive systems to move goods and supplies to the moon or to mars for a hoped fraction of the cost of conventional systems?
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